Ready for Mindy Cohn.

Call it a reverse curse.

Out of the recent crop of Oscar winners, Best Supporting Actor (for Syriana) George Clooney is the glamorous, sexy, man-about-town. The Hollywood super-lefty turned cinematic triple threat. Paul Haggis is the producer, director, and co-writer of the Best Picture, Crash. With this movie and his adaptation of Million Dollar Baby for Clint Eastwood last year, Haggis has developed a reputation as a gritty chronicler of the human condition. He has crafted screenplays that have provoked thought on current issues, but offered no easy answers.

Sure, both these guys have gotten reputations for making well-received movies out of the Hollywood box. But it goes much deeper that that. Both men are graduates of an unlikely showbiz training ground: the Facts of Life. Haggis was a writer on the late 80's NBC girls school comedy, and the then-hapless Clooney was a regular character.

What seeds of liberal-leaning movie-making knowledge were passed along in those days? Is Charlotte Rae the Secret Mentor of the 78th Annual Academy Awards? We may never know for sure. But one thing is certain. The female players on that show, Nancy McKeon, Kim Fields, Lisa Welchel, and Mindy Cohn, have been on the periphery of showbiz the last few years, perhaps ticking like talented time bombs, waiting to explode. Imagine the tsunami of brilliance that could be unleashed, should the most prominent faces of this series choose to favor us with their virtuosity.

Don't leave us waiting, Jo, Blair, Tootie, Nat. We're ready now.